Why Obama Might Free Jonathan Pollard This Month

Citing U.S. Department of Justice documents, Grant F. Smith argues that Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard may be about to receive a presidential pardon:

June 18 could mark the culmination of a massive lobbying campaign for release. Obama’s dismal record on Israeli accountability suggests Pollard will soon walk free.

Smith goes on to explain the significance of that date:

Upping the ante, Israeli President Shimon Peres has explicitly linked his receipt of a US Presidential Medal of Freedom during a special June 18 White House dinner to Pollard’s freedom gambit — channeling even more intense pressure on Obama to take action in a specific context, place and time.

As to why Pollard’s release is so important for Tel Aviv, he explains:

Pollard’s ongoing imprisonment has uniquely and singularly defied Israel’s doctrine of accountability. Israel’s history is replete with demands that it should never be held accountable for any act committed anywhere — including in the US — that is perpetrated in the name of Israel’s national security. Most public figures lobbying for Pollard’s release grudgingly admit that he committed heinous acts against the US. But like the enforcers of other doctrines of infallibility, Pollard clemency lobbyists insist that acts to enhance Israeli security — as determined by Israel and Israel alone — are infallible. Clemency will serve this infallibility doctrine. Pollard’s imprisonment has placed a damper on Israel’s widespread and constant recruitment of others to act audaciously — and often illegally — on the pretext of advancing its national security. Freeing Pollard would unfetter Israel and its supporters during increasingly tense international times.

Smith concludes his must-read article with this depressing, but safe, prediction:

There will likely be little public outcry if Obama frees Israel’s top spy while simultaneously pinning a medal on the chest of the Middle East’s biggest (and so far only) nuclear arms proliferator.